Journal of forensic and legal medicine
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The purpose of this study was to record and evaluate the causes and the magnitude of the fatal burn injuries retrospectively. An analysis of autopsy records revealed 19.4% cases of burn injuries amongst the total autopsies done over 10years period (1993-2002) in the mortuary of the department of Forensic Medicine of Kasturba medical College, Manipal. The majority of deaths (78.5%) occurred between 11 and 40years of age group with preponderance of females (74.8%). ⋯ The majority of burn incidents were accidental (75.8%) in nature followed by suicidal (11.5%) and homicidal (3.1%) deaths. The percentage of burn (TBSA) over 40% were observed in most of the cases (92.5%). The majority of deaths occurred within a week (69.87%) and most the victims died because of septicemia (50.9%).
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The Police Reform Act 2002 enables blood to be lawfully taken from any driver who has been involved in a road traffic accident, who lacks the capacity to consent as a result of a medical problem or injury, and who may be under the influence of alcohol or drugs. Consent at the time is not required but must be obtained at a later date. Experience of forensic physicians suggest obtaining blood directly from a vein, as the Act requires, can sometimes be technically difficult in an intensive care setting. The case described discusses one such scenario and puts forward the reasons as to why blood from a line should be accepted as evidence.
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Death by hanging is believed to be a painless method of committing suicide. In most cases the noose has a knot and on this basis only it can be labeled as atypical or typical hanging. A 35 year Chinese man committed suicide by hanging with a ligature material made of electric wire where there was no knot present on the noose.
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A fatal case of a homicidal penetrating head injury by retained blade of knife is reported. The blade of knife penetrated the skull bone after breaking from a knife handle and remained lodged in the intracranial cavity for 5 days resulting in death from intracranial bleeding and brain oedema. The need of proper and complete examination of the head injury and its medico-legal importance is emphasized.
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A case is presented of a 30-year-old man suffering from borderline personality disorder who committed suicide by means of smothering. He was hospitalized at the psychiatric department of a public hospital for several months and was found dead in the seclusion room. ⋯ A literature review revealed several cases of suicidal asphyxia by smothering of patients with a history of psychiatric illness. Our patient's operating process had not been reported before to our knowledge.